Charles WheelanRecensioni

An ambitious goal: to try to turn statistics into a fun approachable narrative... for the most part the author actually pulls this off, but then the book rides this line between how simple and powerful statistics are and how misleading they can be.

And yet not enough is said about the core assumptions that underlie statistics and exception cases. Long tails, the plague and opportunity of our current society are only spoken of broefly, networks and power laws, earthquakes and other disasters barely mentioned.

I really liked the story, but some of the writing style really annoyed me

good overview of the subject in layman's terms

Excellent intro to economics
examples are easily understood and language is for the layman, not the economist

Now and then I have had to explain some statistical concept to someone who was smart but innumerate. Books like this one are an inspiration for such an endeavor, but it is surprising how much verbiage is sometimes necessary to explain the simplest equation.

Does precisely what it set out to do: Give an engaging overview of economics and the forces that drive it. An excellent read that (as it should, I think) raises as many questions for me as it answers. It's definitely a motivator to learn more about the field, and it helps me understand what exactly it is that I don't yet know.

CUPRINS

1. Multumiri - pag. 9
2. Introducere - pag. 11

PARTEA I – CE SUNT BANII
3. Ce sunt banii ? - pag. 23
4. Inflatie si deflatie - pag. 40
5. Stiinta, arta, politica si psihologia preturilor - pag. 63
6. Credit si crize - pag. 85
7. Bancile centrale - pag. 108
8. Ratele de schimb si sistemul financiar global - pag. 136
9. Aurul - pag. 169

PARTEA A II-A – DE CE SUNT IMPORTANTI
10. O scurta incursiune in istoria monetara a Statelor Unite - pag. 191
11. 1929 si 2008 - pag. 220
12. Japonia - pag. 253
13. Moneda euro - pag. 272
14. Statele Unite si China - pag. 293
15. Viitorul banilor - pag. 311
16. Imbunatatirea operatiuilor sistemului bancar central - pag. 331

17. Note - pag. 359
18. Indice - pag. 383

This book was great. I couldn't put it down, and now I have something to talk about with friends at dinner. It also has some humor in it. Enjoy!

While many of the examples are woefully outdated (published 2002), the concepts are purely timeless. I laughed out loud a couple of times. Well, sometimes because of the outdated examples ("I recently visited a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, that was experimenting with a self-serve checkout line."); but sometimes because he was just really (deliberately) funny.

And sometimes because I raise Angora goats, and the great mohair subsidy of 1955 that lasted for about 35 years was one of his great examples of the power of organized interests to get legislation on the books that is a boon for the interests but way outlives its usefulness and isn't big enough for any non-interested party to get worked up about enough to revoke. Although it seems some people got worked up about the mohair subsidy eventually, it just took 35 years. (We got into the hobby less than a decade too late to sit back and make a tidy living off of it.)

And sometimes I felt personal pride, while reading the whole chapter on the Federal Reserve. While it would be an overstatement to say we've forgotten 9/11, we've forgotten plenty of the details of those first weeks, months, and year of aftermath (again, publication date of this was 2002). "On September 11, 2001, hours after the terrorist attacks on the United States, the Federal Reserve issued the following statement: 'The Federal Reserve System is open and operating. The discount window is available to meet liquidity needs.'" This was his example of simple statements speaking loudly. A simple, calming statement, with not so calm people behind the scenes doing not so simple things to make it so.

What was fantastic about this book was that it had no ax to grind. It's facts and concepts. You judge. This is what government intervention can sometimes do for good. This is what it can sometimes do for ill. Know the basic economics presented in this book first; then maybe you can hold forth with an informed opinion.

Although I am moderately skilled at statistical analysis, albeit largely self-taught, this book helped fill in some gaps. Some easy to follow examples, also of pitfalls, although it's a pity that examples from US baseball (or was it football - I could not tell) were used. That did not help at all.

4.5, easy and fun read if you've had exposure to economics. Great analogies spaced throughout the book helped to reenforce core ideas (a great way to learn fwiw). I'll be trying another in this series soon!

I never had economics, so this book was an eye opener. Well written, interesting sidelights that kept you reading, and very worrisome because it was written before what we are going through now. He takes you through previous financial crises and fixes, ends by saying we are getting better at this-- but I'm not sure what he'd say about the latest issues. Well worth reading!

This a mostly enjoyable book about a dry subject: statistics.

I work with numbers for my day job and even I got bored a lot. Still many time he would make me laugh as he poked fun at himself .. and made me pause and think.

Closer to a 3.25 star book.

Informative. Entertaining. Enlightening. Awesome.

Loved it.

3.5 stars

This book is very well-written. Author has a knack for explaining things with clear examples and spices his writing up with occasional humor.

I am familiar with statistics, but enjoyed this book nonetheless and would still recommend it. Looking forward to reading his other book, Naked Economics, soon.

Very enjoyable book about the "Gap Year" of the Wheelan family and their travels around the world. Not everything turns out perfectly (Flesh-eating bacteria, etc.), but it was a good book to listen to in a Covid era!

Excellent. Manages to explain complex phenomenon well.

Excellent. Well done. Complex rendered understandable.

This is a readable, enjoyable and accessible book that will teach you the fundamentals behind Statistics. And if you are at all interested in the new world of analytics or data science (or at least have to work with those that do) you need to have a grounding in this subject matter. Charles Wheelan does an excellent job of taking you by the hand and explaining terms like descriptive statistics, predictive analytics, the basics of probability and polling. Doesn’t sound all that fun? Well, you haven’t read Wheelan’s examples yet. As a former editor for many How-To books and technical series I give this the “Damn. Wish I had Published This” Award.

Um livro que nos faz entender os números por trás dos fatos e apreciar a força extraordinária dos dados em diversos aspectos do cotidiano A estatística é uma ciência que está em toda parte, muito embora seja considerada desinteressante e inacessível por envolver números e dados muitas vezes complexos. Útil, quando usada de forma correta, mas potencialmente desastrosa em mãos erradas, sua aplicação no mundo real é cada vez mais requisitada - seja em relatórios médicos, no resultado de campeonatos esportivos ou em pesquisas eleitorais. O consagrado economista Charles Wheelan mostra que com os dados certos e as ferramentas estatísticas adequadas podemos responder muitas perguntas, tais como: Quais substâncias ou comportamentos causam câncer? O que está provocando o aumento da incidência de autismo? Como a Netflix sabe quais filmes você gosta? Sem usar muita matemática, equações e gráficos, esse livro nos ajuda a compreender conceitos estatísticos importantes para a vida cotidiana, como: inferência, correlação, análise de dados etc. Ao falar das ideias mais importantes da disciplina sem entrar em detalhes técnicos, o autor torna a estatística palatável não só para aqueles que a estudam em salas de aula, mas para qualquer um que deseje compreender melhor os desafios do mundo em que vivemos. "O autor faz algo único: apresenta a estatística de modo interessante e divertido." The Economist "Despe a roupagem supérflua e expõe a beleza da disciplinade maneira que todos possam apreciá-la." Hal Varian, economista-chefe do Google "Brilhante, divertido... O melhor professor de matemática que você jamais teve." San Francisco Chronicle "Seus vários exemplos cotidianos ilustram exatamente por que até mesmo aqueles que detestam matemática poderão compreender os fundamentos da estatística." The New York Times "Um livro divertido, envolvente, que mostra por que a estatística é uma ferramenta essencial para quem deseja compreender o mundo moderno." Jacob J. Goldstein, NPR

Maybe you only live once, but perhaps you can take a second gap year.

If you hate those Christmas letters composed to make you envy the writer’s family and wonder why your own family is so dull, then this book is not for you. It’s that letter, 288 pages long.
Charles Wheelan and his wife Leah took a gap year after college graduation and explored the world. I guess that’s one way to test compatibility early on in a relationship. Twenty-five years later, they are still together, with three teenage children, and decide to take a midlife gap year as a family. A YOLO dream reprised, so to speak.
They set out from their home in a New Hampshire college town with a plan to return in nine months and very few fixed points in between, There are places they want to visit, but are relaxed about when and how they will get there. That was probably wise. I don’t stand up well to even a week of “if this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium” touring. The Wheelan family, especially Leah, demonstrate a remarkable ability to transform a whim into a workable plan on the fly (assuming a good internet connection), and (almost) stay within budget as they go.
Most of all, the family set out to savor the uniqueness of each place they visited in a relaxed way (with generous helpings of street food).
The family is also remarkable for its insouciance in the face of obstacles. That circular sore on the foot of one daughter turned out to be from a flesh-eating parasite with life-threatening consequences. After a series of misdiagnoses on two continents and thwarted attempts at treatment in three different Asian countries, they put her on a plane to Munich for treatment (but first, the week-long hike through Bhutan).
Wheelan writes well, although stretches of this book read like unprocessed journal entries (we went there, we did that). Other passages however clearly recount peak experiences: arriving in Patagonia, the southern tip of South America, visits to Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and the Galapagos, and scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef. Vivid illustration of one of the lessons Wheelan draws in the epilogue: experiences we share enrich our lives more than stuff we acquire.
Something seems to have gone wrong with the text in chapter three of my Kindle edition, however. Wheelan records a family meltdown; he wisely ran it past the censorious eyes of Leah before publication. I get it that “the quick brown fox” stands for anything Leah redlined, but in the process of making those changes, a passage also seems to have become garbled and repeated.
When one of our daughters suggested this book for our monthly long-distance bookclub, I expected, going in, one of those Bill Bryson adventures. There is a little of that in this book: the author is endearingly self-deprecating in the right amount, but unlike Bryson on the Appalachian Trail, this is not a record of failure, but of glorious success.
There was an irony in reading this after a year of lockdown, having let plane tickets, rail passes, and hotel reservations elapse. While no substitute for real travel, reading this book was a pleasurable armchair adventure.

Very clear and well-written introduction to basic statistical reasoning, more than intro to statistics per se (there are textbooks for that). Makes basic statistical concepts easy to understand with attractive and interesting examples.

I LOVED this book! It made me laugh out loud. I love the perspective of travelling with three teenagers. Wheelan provides enough detail about the places they visited to make them distinct. (I would've loved more, but I don't feel he skimped on any place he wrote about.) I loved Wheelan & his wife's approach to travel. And I loved the amount that was included about South America.

What a slog. Insane premise, insanely dull plot. The nails holding it together all stick out. How can one write a novel about a deadly pandemic, and never go to a single victim?

Quite comprehensive and a good introduction to statistics. Previous to this book, I had little to no understanding of the practical applications of statistics, so this was a great read.
The only reason I rated it 4 instead of 5 is because some of the "humor" in the book wasn't funny.